"We need reinforcents! I repeat we need reinforcents in the forest team!"
The voice crackled through the communication crystal like a flare in the night. One of the rogues from the Loose Leash team was shouting, panic barely hidden in his voice.
Kaelen, who had just finished healing another wounded veteran, snapped his head toward the sound.
"What’s going on over there?" he asked into his own crystal.
"The bird-headed tyrant’s going wild! We’ve lost formation. Too many down, Derek’s holding it alone. If this keeps up, we’re gonna lose people for real!"
Kaelen’s expression darkened. He turned to the nearby transporter from Hather’s support group. "Get ready to jump. Take us there now."
The caster nodded and chanted a short spell. A bright ring of light spread beneath them, and in the next mont, they vanished, reappearing near the forest’s edge.
Without a second wasted, Kaelen moved straight to the wounded. So were conscious but bleeding heavily. Others lay still, arms wrapped in bandages or burns etched deep into their flesh.
And there he saw Alira tending to the wounded, her hands slick with blood as she dragged another wounded fighter behind the crumbled tree trunk. Her breaths ca in sharp, uneven gasps, her muscles burning with exhaustion, but she didn’t stop because she couldn’t stop. Every second counted. The air reeked of smoke and the tallic sll of blood, the distant shriek of the monster shaking the ground beneath her feet.
Then a familiar presence appeared before her.
Kaelen’s voice cut through the chaos, rough with urgency as his hand clamped down on her shoulder. The contact was firm, grounding, as if he needed the physical reassurance that she was real, unhard. "Are you okay?" His words tumbled out, edged with barely restrained fear. "And how did things escalate this quickly?"
Alira turned, her face streaked with dirt and sweat, but her eyes flickered with relief at the sight of him. She nodded quickly, though her voice wavered. "I’m fine, thanks to Uncle. But he’s... he’s not in the best condition." Her gaze darted past Kaelen, toward the heart of the battle, where shadows and screams clashed.
Kaelen followed her look, his jaw tightening. "I’ll go over real quick. You wait here." He moved to pull away, but before he could a step.
Her hands shot out, gripping his with surprising strength. Her fingers trembled against his skin, cold and desperate. "Don’t go."
The plea in her voice was raw, stripped of all pretense. "You’ll only be a burden. That thing, it’s too strong."
Her eyes, wide, haunted and afraid held his hands, and for a mont, Kaelen saw it, the trauma of past battles, the terror of helplessness that had burrowed deep into her. She wasn’t just afraid for him. She was afraid of this, of watching soone else she cared about throw themselves into the jaws of death.
)
Kaelen’s chest tightened. He forced a grin, ruffling her hair like he always did, trying to brush away the fear with familiarity. "Co on, don’t worry. It’s , Kaelen. What could possibly happen to ?"
But the joke fell flat.
Her grip only tightened, her nails digging into his skin. "Please, Kaelen." Two words, soft but crushing.
And that was it, he couldn’t refuse her, not when her voice cracked like that.
With a sigh, he relented, squeezing her hand once before letting go. "Okay, fine. I’ll stay. I’ll heal the others." His thumb brushed against her temple, a silent promise.
Then he walked towards an injured mber of the team, he dropped to one knee, both palms glowing. Warm, golden light spilled out as he moved from one to the next, weaving his healing spells in fluid, practiced motion. The other healers simply stepped back, watching in quiet awe.
anwhile, deeper in the forest, Derek stood alone in front of the monster.
Its four arms now equipped with weapons cutting the air with bone-rattling force. This monster had picked up weapons from his comrades and was much deadlier now. It has once again picked up the chains, it has taken a liking to it. The monster wasn’t just fast or strong, it was smart and Derek was still alive but barely all because the monster was still toying with him.
Derek’s breath was ragged. His sword trembles with every clash, his hands were holding on but barely, if not for his years of relentless training he would have long since dropped his sword.
His armor broke but it kept on being replaced by shadows erging from his sword. His armor clung to him like liquid darkness, an extension of his will.
He knew he would surely die when the monster grew tired of having fun with him so he reached into his system storage and pulled out a small, glowing fruit. Pure white. Soft, like silk-wrapped mana.
It was the Ascension Fruit.
The mont Derek’s fingers closed around it, the world seed to still. The air itself humd with latent power, the fruit’s radiant glow pulsing like a second heartbeat in his palm. He didn’t hesitate.
He ate it whole in one bite.
A surge of raw energy detonated inside him. His aura erupted, a shockwave of pressure blasting outward, kicking up dust and sending loose debris skidding across the ground.
His wounds, deep, burning gashes that had sapped his strength, knitted themselves together in seconds, flesh nding as if ti itself were reversing. His veins lit up beneath his skin, a network of silver fire, and for a single, blinding mont, his eyes flashed with an otherworldly glow.
Then, the tyrant reacted.
The avian-headed monster froze, still spinning the chains in a deadly orbit, then it slowed and stopped.
Its beady black eyes, void-like, soulless snapped to Derek. A low, guttural hiss slithered from its serrated beak, the sound vibrating with sothing deeper than anger.
Rage. Pure and unfiltered hatred.
It screeched a sound so piercing it split the air like shattered glass, so full of venom that even the earth seed to recoil.
It knew.
The Ascension Fruit was no ordinary treasure. The tree bore gifts, yes, but they were unique, tailored to the one who received them.
Yet for all their differences, they shared one sacred truth, they unlocked potential, bending fate itself to give their user the chance to ascend beyond their limits.
For humans, evolution was a ritual, a careful gathering of three rare keys, each a piece of their destined path to power.
But for monsters?
Their evolution was hunger. Instinct. A single, all-consuming need, a natural evolution.
And this monster, a peak Gold-rank predator, a creature already teetering on the edge of the next realm, needed only one thing: a treasure potent enough to push it over.
The Ascension Fruit had been that treasure.
And now it was gone.
Devoured by the worthless human standing before it.
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